Iran resumes public executions amid crackdown on dissent

Iran publicly executed two protesters in Isfahan at dawn on July 28, putting public hangings back at the center of its response to unrest after months of war with the United States and the January protests that began in Tehran after the currency collapsed. Human rights groups documented a wider campaign of death sentences, arbitrary arrests, torture and forced confessions.

On August 5, U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk urged Iranian authorities to halt the rise in executions. Rights monitors put the number at at least 56 since March. The U.N. rights office put the toll at at least 21 since the start of the Iran-U.S. war and more than 4,000 detained on national security charges, with many facing unfair trials and torture. The Center for Human Rights in Iran put the total at at least 22 in six weeks amid secret trials, torture and forced confessions.

Outside Iran, opponents of the death penalty protested in London’s Piccadilly Circus on July 30. Amnesty International tied the recent death sentences to secret trials, torture and forced confessions. One case that drew attention involved Arvin Kheirkhah, a 20-year-old protester who was executed at Shahroud prison after being arrested during the January protests.

Iran's 2025 executions reached at least 1,639, more than double the 2024 figure. In 2022, executions rose 75 percent to at least 582, as authorities used the death penalty and public hangings during protests. The U.N. Human Rights Council extended the mandate of its Fact-Finding Mission on Iran in January and called for an urgent investigation into violations tied to the protests that began on December 28, 2025.